Prime Minister Sushil Koirala announced in, I believe, his first or second public speech after the April 25 earthquake that he was going to rebuild all collapsed houses "within two years." You could tell he did not believe it himself even as he delivered the statement. But it was a tactic he had used before on matters of grave national importance. Like the constitution, for example. He kept saying he will deliver it "within a year." Weeks and days before the deadline he kept repeating the same mantra. The deadline came and went. There was no accountability on the missed deadline. He went ahead and applied the same cynicism to the earthquake's devastation. He will rebuild all the houses "within two years." It is a cynical ploy to tag people along, string them along. It is a sad state of affairs.